


Until You Stop Hiding, I’ll Hide With You

by JustAnotherGhostwriter



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Bruce Worries, Gen, Platonic Science Bros, Slash goggles may be worn if you want, The team finds out about his arc reactor, Tony's kidnapped again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-07
Updated: 2013-05-07
Packaged: 2017-12-10 16:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherGhostwriter/pseuds/JustAnotherGhostwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce isn't even gone for two days when Tony gets himself kidnapped. Again. S.H.I.E.L.D is telling everybody to calm down and wait, but the Avengers Team has other ideas. And in the midst of their daring rescue, the others finally catch sight of all the arc reactor is. Fluffy team fic in response to a request on Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until You Stop Hiding, I’ll Hide With You

**Author's Note:**

> Major-Nerd-Yet-Athletic over on Tumblr gave me a prompt that asked for 'the whole team seeing Tony's arc reactor'. Things got a little out of hand, as they usually do when my muse is involved. I apologise if Bruce is OOC. Title taken from a song a friend’s band recently wrote. You listen to somebody write and re-write a song for three hours and it gets stuck in your head, okay?

Life-changing events – as their name suggests – change lives. And battling an army of aliens in Manhattan could, arguably, be considered life-changing. Things had changed for Bruce Banner – many things that were more often than not extremely subtle – but he still maintained that the battlefield was not a place for him. Unless, of course, Nick Fury gave him _that_ look and told him there was no other way and all the _other_ Avengers were assembling so he had to as well. Until _that_ happened, Bruce was going to keep himself far out of trouble so that he didn’t end up breaking New York _again_ or doing something new that was equally as dramatic and devastating. If somebody else could handle the problem, Bruce would happily get out of their way and leave them to it.

He had, however, finally given in to Tony’s whining (and blackmailing and pestering and pouting and subtle messages in the interviews he gave and not so subtle messages in the interviews he gave and Pepper’s tired apology letters that Tony used as emotional blackmail) and had moved into Stark Tower. There was, as promised, a state-of-the-art laboratory with Bruce’s name on it (literally. Tony had sharpied it across the door), a bedroom larger than most houses Bruce had seen in the past few years, unlimited food and… company. Tony Stark was an annoying son of a bitch and the more time Bruce spent with him, the more he grew to like the man. The friendship was what had made him only stay in Stark Tower for a couple of weeks at a time before; he was all too aware how much damage he could cause. But Tony kept insisting that he _stay_ and not _visit_ and then there was the whole thing with Tony being shot at by a gang of petty criminals that Bruce got to hear about second hand and that made him establish the fact that Tony really needed a babysitter. Yes, the Other Guy could cause a lot of damage to New York. But the Other Guy could also cause a lot of damage to anybody who tried to hurt Tony or Pepper.

They were the only people he’d been able to call _friends_ in years. What other choice did he have but to move in?

 

Given that his decision was quite a bit based on the fact that he could maybe protect Tony and Pepper it was highly ironic that _it_ happened on the weekend he was out of town. He hadn’t gone far – just a three hour drive with a bunch of highly acclaimed scientists that would appreciate his ‘poking at beakers’ without having to make derogatory comments about people’s mothers and who wouldn’t proclaim that they were bored and wanted to do _real science_ after only twenty minutes. He’d spent a lovely, productive day out and was planning to spend the night studying the specimens they’d picked up with some of the most respected names in science. And then somebody turned on the radio to listen to 80’s Hour and Bruce was told by a drawling voice that the show was cancelled because the radio station was being dedicated to news of billionaire Tony Stark’s kidnap.

(What was it about _stay out of trouble_ that Tony hadn’t understood?)

It would have been much faster, he was sure, to fly or even catch a train or a taxi back to New York. But Bruce didn’t _really_ trust himself in small enclosed transport devices at the best of times. And right then was _not_ the best of times because _Tony had been kidnapped_ and he couldn’t get hold of Pepper to ask what the hell was going on. For safety purposes, Bruce thus took the ‘borrowed’ motorcycle and tried to pour the anger and fear that was welling up alarmingly inside of him into the ride. By the time he was nearing Stark Tower he was stiff and tired and sore but still as angry and as afraid as he had been when he’d started out. Tony loved to talk. After a while Bruce had learned to tell when the billionaire was just talking for the hell of it or telling half-truths mixed with over-exaggerations because he thought he _should_ or because he wanted to say other things but was too afraid to say them. Those were the times Bruce shut off and let Tony’s words wash over him like inconsequential noise. When Tony worked through his fear enough to _really_ talk about things… then Bruce was there to listen. Always. As a result, he knew about Afghanistan. Perhaps not everything, perhaps not even a lot but he knew enough to know that Tony kidnapped was a whole other level of bad. There was almost no chance that the people who had him now were part of the Ten Rings or whatever those bastards had called themselves but PTSD didn’t know that. Bruce’s hands gripped the handle bars even more tightly, and although he didn’t look down he was almost sure his hands bore a tinge of green.

_Keep it together, Bruce. You need to find him, not get distracted punching walls._

The roar of another motorcycle had him glancing to the left and locking eyes with none other than Steve Rogers. Apparently, Captain America had heard too. They nodded to each other and then pressed on, faster and slightly more desperate than before. If Steve thought it was bad enough that he had to come…

As soon as Bruce stepped into the penthouse Pepper’s eyes met his and her hands did a frantic little flutter that made his gut clench. It was _bad_. He was so focused on keeping the panic inside of him lower than the panic he saw in her eyes that it took him a while to notice she was not alone. In fact, if Thor’s booming voice hadn’t greeted him and Steve he probably wouldn’t have looked around the penthouse for ages. The God of Thunder stood by the windows with a pretty girl at his side that Bruce recognised as Jane. It seemed Thor’s visit to his girlfriend had been cut short by the news about Tony. Behind where Pepper was pacing sat Natasha, the only one who looked completely at ease. Clint was just behind her, perched on the counter. He gave Bruce a nod when they locked eyes. The whole team had come. He wasn’t sure about Natasha and Clint’s motives, but he knew Thor and Steve were there simply because they’d been worried about Tony, too. Worried and determined to help. It may not be a earth-threatening alien invasion, but to each member of the Avengers team this was just as important.

“I tried to call,” Bruce told the silence nervously, looking at Pepper.

“S…sorry. I told Jarvis to cut the phone lines before he diverted all his power to trying to find... Uh… reporters kept calling and I just… um…” She did the hand thing again. “I can’t tell them anything, anyway; I don’t know. Happy said they came out of nowhere and Rhodey is on a mission out of reach and… Nick said he’d call with instructions once he knew more. He said we should wait for S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“The longer we wait, the longer those villains have with Friend Stark! We should not just be sitting idle! We should be looking!” Thor fumed at once. Jane’s hand on his arm stopped him from continuing, but the frustrated look was still on his face.

“I agree with Thor,” Steve spoke up. He glanced at Natasha and Clint. “Look, I know S.H.I.E.L.D’s-”

“We’re not here representing S.H.I.E.L.D,” Natasha interrupted him quietly.

“Yeah,” Clint piped up. “It was, _actually_ our day off. Leave it to Stark to fuck that up for us. Bastard.”

“I may have a way to find out where he is,” Natasha continued. “But it’s…” She hesitated and cocked her head to the side. “Not a way that many people would agree with.”

“To fight unworthy cads one must sometimes do slightly unworthy things,” Thor said bluntly.

“I’m in. The sooner we find him, the sooner I can go back to kicking high scores into oblivion.”

Steve hesitated. “If it’ll get us to Tony… Nick didn’t specifically _order_ …” He squared his shoulders. “Do it,” he told Natasha.

“As co-CEO of Stark Industries I am strongly advising against disobeying Director Fury’s orders. It puts bad faith between SI and S.H.I.E.L.D and it could cause damaging publicity and… and…” Her shoulders sagged. “If you could bring him home to me, I’d… I’d appreciate that. Please.”

Five pairs of eyes turned to Bruce and he suddenly felt like a shy kid who was being pushed on stage to deliver a speech. They were all probing him and it made his skin crawl even when he wasn’t taking extremely measured breaths so he didn’t go green and throw Tony’s plasma TV out the window.

“Banner, you okay for this?” Steve asked him gently.

“We’re not being left out of this one,” Bruce answered quietly. It took another few moments for him to realize that for the first time he was speaking about himself in plural.

*********

Bruce could turn into a giant green rage monster, and Natasha Romanoff still scared him.

The team borrowed one of Stark Industry’s vans, leaving Pepper in Jane’s care. Natasha drove, weaving through back streets that had no visible name until she came to something that looked very much like a shack. She told them to wait in the car and even Clint obeyed, even though he looked shifty about it. She returned twenty minutes later with an address scrawled on the back of a paper napkin and blood down her front. She wasn’t bleeding anywhere. Not even Steve asked.

Natasha drove like a madwoman, almost causing several accidents while she snarled things in Russian Bruce was very sure he should be blushing at. Their journey took them almost out of the city, down to some rundown warehouses on the shore. Even the litter that clung to the faded bricks was old, and for a heart-stopping moment it looked like Natasha’s informant had been wrong: nobody had been there for years. Then Clint was sounding a low whistle and pointing to a fresh cigarette butt and Thor was breaking down the front doors of the place Natasha pointed to.

They were met with resistance almost at once, but after a few very confusing minutes Bruce found himself being tugged deeper into the warehouse by Natasha while the rest of the team worked out their frustrations on the kidnappers.

“You still with me, Banner?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

He wasn’t sure how long that would continue to be the truth, but he fought his shaking hands and focused on looking around for any signs of Tony. Turned out finding him would not be too much of an issue; the third door Natasha kicked open took them into a heavily fortified steel room. On what looked like an operating table lay a very still Tony Stark, still wearing his tuxedo pants and the bloodied, tattered remains of his white shirt. Bruce looked desperately for signs of breathing and was just about to be relieved when Tony’s chest moved when he caught sight of the tubes running into his friend’s arms. There were five of them, all hooked up to little machines that were attached to the side of the table. A moment after realizing Tony was being pumped with _five_ unknown substances, Bruce took in the blue tinge to the billionaire’s lips and how the red patches on his shirt were still growing slowly by the minute.

Rage slammed up, fighting to break the firm hold of control he had. Bruce felt himself shudder and he shut his eyes instinctively. Every nerve of his body was suddenly alert and suddenly shimmering in anger and the desire to _hurt hurt hurt_ all of those who even _dared_ lay a finger on Tony Stark. He gripped his arms hard in a vague attempt to keep himself together.

 _Stop it! I’m the only one half resembling a doctor around! I need to be able to_ save _him! So just stop! Stop!_

Bruce had always had the impression that the Other Guy was not a being trapped inside his body that could be reasoned with. He’d never attempted to speak to the _Hulk_ before that point; had never let the Other Guy be something as real as he was making him now. And even as the words ran through his mind he felt foolish, as though he was yelling at an inanimate object or an animal that could not understand. Even as he thought the command a bit of him questioned his sanity. But he did it anyway. Because _maybe_ the Other Guy _could_ hear. And if he could… Well. When it came to Tony the Other Guy somehow thought _save_ instead of _smash_ and that was what Bruce was desperately after right then.

Bruce wasn’t sure whether it was because the Other Guy really could hear his thoughts or whether his words made him determined enough to keep his anger under wraps. Whatever the reason, Bruce was able to fight down the rage and walk over to the table while Natasha started pillaging through files to try and find out more about what was going on. There was no way to determine what was in the tubes shoved into Tony’s skin, and so all Bruce could do was hope and then remove the needles as gently as he possibly could. Tony’s pulse under his fingers remained the same; sporadic and a little weak but still _there_ and holding constant even as the drugs were flung to the side in disgust.

He then moved towards Tony’s torso, intending to try and stop the obvious bleeding before his friend lost too much blood. But he never got that far. Opening Tony’s shirt, Bruce caught sight of electrical pulses stuck to the face of the arc reactor. For one heartbeat, he stared at the obscured round light without comprehension. As soon as it hit him – _they were electrocuting him through his reactor_ – Bruce simply saw green. There was a sudden roaring in his ears as the world shivered around him, and he wasn’t sure if it was the blood rushing angrily or the howling of the beast that was about to fill the room. He didn’t even attempt to hold himself together, this time; the rage made moving impossible.

 _How dare they. How_ fucking _dare they_. _He’d kill them. He’d_ kill _them. He’d-_

Two strong hands grabbed his upper arms and hauled him away from Tony’s body. Thor’s face suddenly loomed in his vision, very close and very intense.

“Doctor Banner. Please. You must try and calm yourself.”

He nearly punched Thor straight through the wall. Very nearly. Instead he gulped down air and thought of calming mantras and tried to ignore the sound of a battle just behind him. By the time Thor felt it safe enough to let him go, the rest of the team was in the room and Clint was slamming the door shut on the henchmen, using their own fortified room as a temporary weapon against them. Even as the deadbolt was shoved into place, Bruce knew that it was temporary. They couldn’t leave themselves trapped inside forever. He wasn’t even sure what kind of state Tony was in, really – he needed _real_ doctors. And Clint was bleeding from a cut on his forehead and Thor had the beginnings of a black eye and Steve had his shirt torn and had a split lip. Running a hand through his hair, Bruce returned to Tony, suppressing another wave of anger as he saw the state of his friend once more.

“I pulled them off,” Natasha told him quietly.

He simply nodded his thanks to her; Tony had mentioned she knew more about him and the arc reactor than he was comfortable with. He doubted she knew even the _half_ of what that thing in Tony’s chest really was (how deep it went; cut straight into bone…) but she knew enough to have a cold glint in her eye that told Bruce whoever had decided to electrocute Tony Stark was going to wish he’d never been born very soon.

“Great. So now that we’re conveniently in their trap, what’s the plan to get _out_? Preferably with Stark, but that part’s debatable and all.”

“Any way to contact S.H.I.E.L.D?” Steve answered, shooting little worried looks in Tony’s direction as Bruce checked his pulse once more.

“Not in here,” Natasha answered, standing still in the way she did when she was stressed. “And I don’t know if they received my communication that this was where we were headed…”

“Then we must not rely on comrades coming to our aid,” Thor said gravely.

“Peachy,” Clint muttered. “So… what? Are we just gonna hang out here until they break in and capture us for real or…? ‘Cause I vote we _don’t_ take that approach.”

Bruce missed Steve’s response because there was suddenly a clammy hand gripping his wrist. His eyes snapped down at once and found Tony’s half-lidded, uncharacteristically dull brown eyes trying to focus on his face.

“Hey. Hey, don’t worry. We’re all here to get you out.”

“My heroes,” Tony muttered, and Bruce was so relieved that he still had the presence of mind to _attempt_ to be snarky. But then the grip tightened and Tony winced and Bruce knew something was _wrong_. “Th…they… Electronic… probe-things. On my arc reactor…”

“I know.” Bruce took a deep, calming breath. “We took them off, don’t worry.”

Tony shook his head. “It damaged… it. Loose connection... It’s causing…” He winced again and his breathing became a little more shallow. “Bruce… I can’t… breathe right…”

Bruce’s stomach seemed to disappear. Automatically, frantically, he placed two fingers on Tony’s neck to check for a pulse. It was weaker and more erratic, now; Tony’s heart was suffering under the damaged reactor. “Shit,” Bruce swore. “Shit, Tony-”

“You’re… you’re gonna have to play Mr Fix-It, Big Guy.”

And _that_ just about stopped Bruce’s heart right on the spot. “Wh-? M-? _Are you insane?_ I’m not an engineer! I’m not even a medical doctor! Tony, I can’t-”

“You’ve seen the plans,” Tony interrupted, his words slurring and his breath hitching even as he clawed onto Bruce tighter. “You’re… nobody else…”

Bruce shook his head wildly, panic rearing inside of him. “Tony, there is no way… I can’t just take it out! If this is what happens when it’s a little broken then when I… No. No, this is insane.”

“Man… the _fuck_ up… Banner.” Tony shut his eyes and grimaced. “You have… like… three min…minutes.”

“Tony. _Tony_. Don’t you _dare_ pass out on me!” Bruce looked around wildly. “Natasha! Do you have a hair clip or _something_?” She handed him one without question and Bruce turned back to a now panting Tony. “Son of a bitch. You’re a…” He squeezed his eyes shut. He barely knew how to wire a plug and he was going to attempt to fix Tony’s arc reactor with a _bobby pin_. “Don’t die.” He meant for it to be a command. It came out like a plea.

He’d had nightmares before of losing control and accidentally killing the man who meant the most to him in the world. But in all those nightmares, he’d never had hands small enough to reach for Tony’s arc reactor as he was doing then. In those nightmares he’d used force; violence and anger and hatred that he couldn’t control even though Tony was the last person he’d want to hurt. In this reality, if he killed his best friend it was because he was trying to save him. The irony had the taste of bile rise up in Bruce’s mouth. Not pausing to stop and wonder _why_ his hands were still not green even with the terror eating at his stomach, Bruce fumbled around until he found the grooves in the reactor and then twisted the device out of Tony’s chest.

He wasn’t an expert – anything but – and even he could see the reactor was damaged. Alarm raced through him as he held the device up to the light. His fingers were trembling as he tried to find the problem Tony had been talking about. For a few wild moments every wire looked exactly the same and Bruce was so sure he wouldn’t find anything. And then his eyes found what he was looking for and the most botched game of operation began. He wasn’t sure what he did, how he did it or if what he was doing was helping and not hindering but after a while Tony’s laboured breathing got to him and he simply prayed to several different deities that he’d remembered the plans Tony had shown him correctly and he slipped the device back into its housing. Tony gasped in a breath and then seemed to sigh, sucking in oxygen more normally. Bruce could have passed out in relief.

He glanced up and found the rest of the team simply staring at him. Their faces were a mixture of expressions that ranged from bug-eyed to neutral-with-an-undertone-of-horror. Suddenly Bruce was remembering his own reaction the first time he’d truly seen the device that Tony had buried in his chest. He remembered the shock, the sudden slap of realization, the awe and the deep-pitted horror as Tony’s vague explanations were blown away by the reality of the brilliant, devastating device bored into his chest.

“I,” Steve started shakily, but couldn’t seem to find the words to continue.

“He’ll be okay for now,” Bruce said quietly, hiding his shaking hands by making fists. “As soon as we get him out of here we need to swap it out for a spare but for now…” He glanced down at Tony, saw his chest rising and falling normally and continued. “For now he’ll be okay. Just as long as there isn’t too much excitement-”

It was at that moment that some metallic _thing_ crashed through the steel walls with a screech of bending metal. Sparks flew in every direction and the remnants of a flamethrower that nobody had noticed eating through the walls because of Tony’s miniature surgery licked at the fringes of the wall. The robot/tank/suit thing lunched for Tony at once. It was at the moment that its fingers were an inch away from Tony’s leg that Bruce finally lost his temper.

********

Bruce regained consciousness to find Pepper’s face hovering above him with an anxious expression etched all over it.

“Hi. Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you but… um… the monitors are showing Tony’s breathing is suffering again and the last time I helped put in a reactor… well…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Bruce gently touched her hand as he sat up and blinked away the dizziness. It had taken a while to feel comfortable touching people again, but Pepper did it so effortlessly with him even when he’d first arrived – soothing touches, touches to say hello, warning touches, happy touches, squeezes and hugs and little bumps to the shoulder to let him know she was _there_ – that it was now second nature to do the same to her. Tony, he’d noticed, was exactly the same around her.

And with that thought Bruce was out of his room like a bullet, intending to head down to Tony’s lab but being intercepted by Dummy on the stairs. The AI whirred at him and held up a box that Bruce knew to contain a spare arc reactor. Jarvis’ calm voice confirmed his thought a moment later, and then politely urged Bruce to hurry. Bruce didn’t need telling twice.

“Oh, and Master Banner?”

Bruce paused just outside the infirmary – a recent addition to the tower – and looked at the nearest receptor. “Yes, Jarvis?”

“Thank you.” If AI’s could sound warm and relieved, then Jarvis certainly did at that moment.

Bruce smiled. “Of course,” he answered simply. 

The rest of the team were clustered around Tony’s bed and all of them tensed when he entered, as though they expected an enemy. Thor and Steve had to be asked to move back so Bruce could get to Tony and even then the two only backed up a few minuscule paces. Bruce hid a smile and gently removed Tony’s damaged reactor, replacing it quickly with the new one and watching in satisfaction as the monitors calmed. The reactor in his hand was suddenly lifted away and he turned to find Clint studying the device, running a finger over the entire reactor as he stared at it grimly. Every eye fell on the device and they all looked. Many of them would understand even less than Bruce did – he’d had Tony to explain. But even if they didn’t understand fully they understood now that the reactor was a lot more than just a power source.

“When I enquired about the device in his chest… Friend Stark made it seem…” Thor trailed off and furrowed his brow as he surveyed the very foreign device in Clint’s hands.

“I know. I didn’t realize…” Once more, Steve couldn’t seem to find the words. “It goes… _so deep_.”

Clint looked up and found the eyes of his partner. “Did you know?” he asked her quietly.

Natasha shook her head slowly. “No. I knew a lot more than the rest of you did because of my undercover work but… No. Not to this extent. Not even Fury knows _this_.” She stared at the complexity of the device before her; at the hundred little crisscrossing wires and the lovingly moulded fusion between electronics and the element that Stark had _created_.

“I think… it should stay that way,” Steve said slowly, flickering his eyes from Natasha to Clint and back again. “I know you guys still work for S.H.I.E.L.D but…”

Clint and Natasha shared a look. Slowly, Clint gave the reactor back to Bruce. “Yeah. I reckon so. We don’t want Stark bitching like a little girl because somebody else got to see his favourite toy.”

“Toy…” Thor scoffed quietly, shaking his head in what looked a little like disgust. Bruce wanted to console him; wanted to say that Thor probably wasn’t the only one who had thought of Tony’s reactor as a mere battery at least once in their life. But he wasn’t good at the mushy stuff, and so he simply let it slide. Jane would do better at that.

“I think,” Bruce said quietly, “he’ll be quite upset to know that _we’ve_ been shown his toy. And you know how he gets when he’s upset. So, perhaps we should…” Bruce met everybody’s eye. “Until he comes to you and tells you about it. On his own terms. Because this is… There are stories attached to this that…”

“Attached to what, Doctor Banner?” Steve interjected quietly. “We didn’t see anything.”

Bruce smiled as the rest of the team agreed. For just this once, they had to protect rather than avenge. For one of their own it was worth it.

 

 


End file.
